Category: Sports News

In the midst of a most disappointing season, the Royals received some hope in the form of catcher Carter Jensen.

Jensen, the 23-year-old local kid out of Park Hill, emerged as the team’s primary catcher in 2026 and looks to play even more games behind the plate going forward. This year, he started 97 games at catcher while appearing in another nine. His bat played so well that he appeared in an additional 42 games as the DH, of which 40 were starts.

While he won’t win the Rookie of the Year Award, he gives the Royals another building block for the future, another piece of the core around which the front office can build. No longer will the Royals have to rely on the aging Salvador Perez to suit up every day. Instead, it’s the young man with the fresh legs and lively bat. He’s a piece of the lineup for years to come, joining Bobby Witt Jr., Jac Caglianone, Maikel Garcia, and (probably) Vinnie Pasquantino.

Jensen picked up a cup of coffee in 2025, but he made the team out of the gate in 2026. He had some issues during the season, of course, including allowing a league-leading nine passed balls. As of June 6, which was the 80th game of the season, his batting average dipped to an ugly .211. His other numbers weren’t a whole lot better—.288 on-base percentage, .368 slugging, add that up and what do you get, why it’s an abysmal OPS of .657.

After that, though, he improved, first gradually, then suddenly. He finished the season by capturing the September American League Rookie of the Month and Player of the Month. He broke the Royals record for home runs by a rookie with 27, which also led the team. With 64, he broke Witt’s record for most extra-base hits by a Royals rookie. In the midst of that, he set a team record for most consecutive hits for extra-bases with a cool dozen.

Final slash line: .239/.323/.467 for an OPS of .790, which was 20% above the league’s average.

Sure, there are some things he can improve. Behind the plate, he leaves plenty to be desired. His 170 strikeouts topped the team by 26.

But that’s nitpicking. It may not all be linear, but he will continue to improve.

Then again, it’s hard to top a season where one leads his team in home runs, RBIs, and doubles.

Here’s to hoping the Royals can fill in the rest of the gaps around Witt. With Jensen, the team no longer has to worry about catcher.

Kevin Gausman was acquired by the Cubs, ostensibly, because of his extensive postseason experience and in particular, how he starred for the Blue Jays in 2025.

Gausman’s regular season numbers for Toronto this year weren’t that great, though some of his peripherals suggested he could return to his 2025 form.

Welp. That didn’t work out too well, did it? In nine starts for the Cubs Gausman was measurably worse (4.83 ERA, 1.232 WHIP) than he was for the Jays (23 starts, 4.38 ERA, 1.288 WHIP). In particular, Gausman fell victim to the same thing many other Cubs pitchers did in 2026 — the long ball. In 50.1 innings for the Cubs, Gausman allowed 11 home runs. He’d allowed 15 homers in 127.1 innings for the Jays.

Whatever’s causing that for Cubs pitching, they need to get it fixed before 2027.

Gausman started Game 2 of the Wild Card Series and it did not go well, as he allowed five hits and three runs in 3.1 innings.

Gausman is an unrestricted free agent — no options of any kind. He turns 36 in January. He loved playing in Toronto:

In fact, Gausman and his family went back to visit Toronto on a Cubs off day in September.

Seems possible, if the right-hander wants to continue playing, that’s the likely landing spot.

It was, I think, a worthwhile attempt, the deal bringing Gausman to the Cubs. Brett Bateman, the key piece in the deal, played 41 games for the Jays and batted .329/.402/.424, producing 2.2 bWAR. That’s quite good. But Bateman was blocked in Chicago by Pete Crow-Armstrong and so this was a good opportunity for him. The other player in the deal, Ty Southisene, is only 20 and has yet to play above A ball.

We should all wish Gausman well. I don’t think the Cubs should bring him back, though.

Happy Thursday everyone!

The World Series is nearly upon us. Just one more day before baseball fans are treated to Game 1 of the Fall Classic between the Milwaukee Brewers and the Tampa Bay Rays. Neither team has won the World Series so one way or another, one organization is going to taste the sweet feeling of hoisting the Commissioner’s Trophy within the next two weeks.

And for A’s fans, there aren’t any major former Athletics on these teams (sorry Jorge Mateo and Chad Patrick). Still, there is a sense of comradery among the fanbases. Tampa and Milwaukee have been low-spenders for the majority of their existences, much like the Athletics. Getting to watch one of these low-payroll franchises lift that final trophy will be awesome to watch for A’s fans. A remind that even against the highest-spending teams like the Dodgers and Yankees, any team can win on any day in baseball.

Anyway, now that the A’s have their top voice in the front office, it’s time for Taylor Smith to begin staffing that office. And that’s something that the team is starting on immediately. And based off the comments from yesterday’s presser, it sounds like Smith will be hiring a GM to work under him. That’s not a shock considering that’s how most front offices work in baseball these days. Now we have to see who Smith will tab as his second-in-command.

Furthermore, from that same presser it sounds like manager Mark Kotsay’s job is safe, at least for now:

That doesn’t sound like someone who is getting ready to make a change in the dugout. There wasn’t a huge expectation that Kotsay would be given his walking papers after the hiring of the next POBO but it was still a possibility. Based off those comments we can expect to see Kotsay in the dugout this spring. How long he lasts will depend on how quickly the team can begin turning things around.

No baseball today but the World Series tomorrow! Have a great Friday Junior A’s fans.

A’s Coverage:

• Athletics Hire Taylor Smith As Next President of Baseball Operations
• A’s bring in Taylor Smith to run baseball operations
• Trade Candidate: Shea Langeliers
• The five biggest questions facing the A’s this offseason
• Inside the A’s State-of-the-Art Las Vegas Ballpark
• Pitching prospect Huggins growing his game with the help of this A’s Hall of Famer
• ’Be a sponge’: No. 19 prospect leads A’s Fall League group with do-it-all mentality
• A’s LHP prospect Richardson shows off health and resiliency during Fall League homecoming
• Zack Of All Trades Tries To Get One More Win: In Court
• Important Dates For The Athletics This Offseason
• 12 A’s Players Out of Options Heading Into 2027
• How MLB’s Proposed Changes Would Impact the A’s
• A’s part ways with assistant hitting, quality control coaches
• After an outfield collision left him paralyzed, every gain in rehab is a big win for A’s Ryan Lasko
• Why 2027 Athletics Will Be Completely Different Team
• A’s Las Vegas ballpark cost rises to $2.1B, public funding delayed
• 2026: Year Of The “Didn’t See That Coming!”
• A’s Hoping Luis Severino Chooses to Stay
• Where the A’s Plan to Use Zack Gelof in 2027
• Drafting The Top AL Graduated MLB Prospects From 2026
• Devin Taylor: Athletics 2026 Minor League Player Of The Year
• Athletics 2026 MLB Draft Report Card
• Henry Bolte Is the A’s Next Budding Star
• Determining Athletics’ Offensive MVP for the 2026 Season
• 2027 Infield Landscape Ever Changing
• Get the best of Athletics Nation on the new SB Nation app

MLB News & Interest:

• This year’s World Series champ will be a 1st-time winner … either way
• Kurt Suzuki out as Angels manager; interim GM John Mozeliak won’t return in 2027
• Mariners Interested In Jason Kanzler For Managerial Vacancy
• Shohei Ohtani won’t need offseason surgery
• Dalton Rushing to undergo surgery
• Red Sox in need of new first and third base coaches
• Boone spurns calls for culture change; Yankees clubhouse remains a ‘strength’
• Today in Baseball History

Best of X:

Awesome, well deserved!

Good words from the new guy:

Who else caught that?

Wednesday was light in Dodgers action in the Arizona Fall League, as the Glendale Desert Dogs were shut out in a game shortened by rain to only six innings. Against the Peoria Javelinas, Glendale managed only four hits, all singles, one of them by second baseman Charles Davalan.

So let’s expand our offseason minor league scope a bit, and turn to the Dominican Winter League (or LIDOM, if you prefer). As far as I can tell, shortstop Emil Morales is the only Dodgers minor leaguer currently active in the league, which started its season last Friday. Morales, who by season’s end was ranked the No. 22 prospect in baseball by MLB Pipeline and ranked 29th by Baseball America, did not play on Wednesday, but has played in two of five games thus for for Gigantes del Cibao.

Morales, who turned 20 in September, has a single, double, and two walks in his seven plate appearances thus far. He’s the second-youngest player on the Gigantes, with Rockies prospect Ronny Brito, a switch-hitting infielder/outfielder five and a half months younger than Morales.

Someone who did play on Wednesday was old friend Brent Honeywell Jr., the former Dodgers pitcher, official “dawg” during the 2024 postseason and unofficial NLCS MVP that year. Honeywell suffered some injury that cost him most of the last two seasons, and pitched in seven games for Triple-A El Paso, a San Diego Padres affiliate. The first of those games for El Paso was at Oklahoma City on August 29, his first game action since Game 4 of the 2024 World Series.

Honeywell for the Gigantes on Wednesday pitched a scoreless sixth inning in relief. This is the second time in his career the 31-year-old right-hander has played in a winter league, having also pitched in seven games and 28 innings for Escogido in the 2022-23 season.

Wednesday scores

• Peoria 3, Glendale 0 (6 innings)
• Gigantes del Cibao 14, Leones del Escogido 9

Thursday schedule

• 4 p.m. PT: Gigantes del Cibao vs. Toros del Este (on MLBtv)
• 6:30 p.m.: Glendale at Mesa Solar Sox (AFL live streams)

Offseason media speculation has suggested the San Diego Padres are leaning toward extending Adrian Morejon a qualifying offer. The lefty pitcher earned consideration with a dominant second half. No question, Morejon should be brought back for the 2027 campaign. 

It is rare for a setup reliever to receive a qualifying offer, but this news should not come as a big surprise. Morejon is considered the top left-handed reliever in this winter’s free-agent class, and should command plenty of interest on the open market. 

What is a qualifying offer?

Every organization has five days after the World Series ends to extend a qualifying offer to an impending free agent. It is a one-year contract offer, and this year’s price tag is $23.15 million. 

However, all players must have spent the entire season on the club’s roster and have never received a qualifying offer in their career. If they decline the contract offer and sign elsewhere, their former team receives a compensatory draft pick. 

Why extend a qualifying offer

Re-signing Morejon should be the Padres’ top priority this offseason. The club has no internal left-handed bullpen option to replace him. In fact, it is hard to find a reliever who can take on his workload: he averaged over 70 appearances over the last three seasons. 

In 2025, Morejon posted a 2.83 ERA over 86.0 innings pitched. Pairing an outstanding 30.4% strikeout rate with a solid 8.0% walk rate, Morejon struck out 107 batters. Perhaps his most impressive underlying metric, Morejon surrendered just four home runs last season.

If he rejects the offer, his suitors will have to consider the cost of pursuing him. Fortunately for the Friars, they receive compensation if their premier setup reliever signs with another team.

If accepted, Morejon would receive a massive salary increase from his $3.9 million mark a year ago. San Diego keeps its late-inning bullpen tandem for another season.

Extending the qualifying offer puts the ball in Morejon’s court. 

Morejon has a life-changing decision

At 27, Morejon is in the prime of his career. Most free agents would decline the qualifying offer to seek a multi-year, big-money deal. Morejon’s potential suitors do not need a reminder of his value to the bullpen. 

Still, a conflicted decision looms. While accepting the qualifying offer is a foolish business decision, Morejon has openly expressed a desire to remain in San Diego. A deep-seated loyalty to the franchise could play a role in his decision. 

To extend a qualifying offer, the Padres have to be confident Morejon is open to a long-term extension. It would not be a surprise to see the Padres and Morejon come together on a new deal. 

Time will tell what occurs.

Padres News:

• Ramon Laureano was supposed to be the answer in left field for the Padres in 2026. Unfortunately, a pre-existing injury and a corresponding surgery cut his season short and now San Diego has to decide if it wants him back.

• In this edition of his player report card, Lincoln Zdunich of Gaslamp Balllooks at starter/reliever Jhony Brito.

Baseball News:

• The Tampa Bay Rays stumbled upon a key piece of their roster who has helped them reach the World Series.

• Pat Murphy led the Milwaukee Brewers to the best record in baseball. Can he lead them to a World Series title?

• Los Angeles Dodgers superstar Shohei Ohtani will not need surgery to fix what ails him.

• Tarik Skubal will be the prized free agent on the market this offseason. Where he lands is anyone’s guess.

• Brian Cashman will return as the general manager for the New York Yankees.

• Kurt Suzuki will not return for a second season as manager of the Los Angeles Angels.

You could use many words to describe the Yankees’ first seven seasons of the 2020s. Consistent is one. The team has made the postseason in six of those seasons, winning the division twice and qualifying four times as a Wild Card. Disappointing is another. The Bombers are still hunting for that elusive championship—their best chance to this point came in 2024, in a World Series where they fell far short of the standard.

One word you could not use to describe these results is “surprising.”

For several years running, Yankee regular seasons have taken on a familiar structure: a strong, sometimes dominant start followed by the so-called ‘June swoon’, a protracted period of ugly losses and unconvincing wins which throws their season off course. The swoon is generally followed by a second-half resurgence in which they flash some of their best team baseball—right up until they face a higher seed in a playoff series, who quickly and soundly trounce them, providing the rest of the baseball world ample time to unite in derision and mockery.

As the Yankees have played at a caliber no greater and no lesser than their roster’s true talent level, the positions of manager and general manager have remained occupied by the same men: Aaron Boone and Brian Cashman. They will remain in their posts for 2027—Boone’s return was announced by the club on Monday, followed by Cashman’s on Wednesday. Once again, no surprises here.

The coming offseason presents a fairly unique challenge for both men, but particularly Cashman. The Yankees’ roster, despite star turns from a few of their youngsters, is one of the most veteran-heavy groups in the league. A huge chunk of the team’s payroll is invested in four long-term contracts for Aaron Judge, Gerrit Cole, Max Fried, and Carlos Rodón. All four players missed significant time in 2026, and Judge, of course, did not play in the postseason.

Furthermore, many of the team’s largest holes in the roster have remained liabilities despite Cashman’s various attempts to address them. The free agent market is thin and the farm system is depleted from the various trades the Yankees have generally needed to make to shore up massive roster holes which pop up every season.

Then, of course, there’s the looming specter of the lockout. The very existence of the 2027 season is at the very least not an absolute sure thing.

Then again, there’s virtually nothing in this sport that Cashman hasn’t seen. He’s had the top job running baseball ops since 1998, and has managed to keep the team above the .500 water line every single year—with precious few absences from the postseason. And this is far from the first time has had to navigate an aging core. It’s easy to take this for granted now, but a decade ago he executed a much-lauded soft reset, turning the Yankees from a sputtering group of underachieving veterans to the Baby Bombers: the electrifying young stars-in-the-making who oozed boundless possibilities.

The dream of another homegrown core in the same style of the 1990s dynasty, however, proved more elusive this time around—and pretty soon, Cashman was increasingly looking for outside help to build around Aaron Judge. In so doing, he was steering a sort of middle course. One one hand, he and owner Hal Steinbrenner have shied away from the tippy top of the free agent market. Superstars like Manny Machado, Bryce Harper, Corey Seager, and, yes, Juan Soto went to higher bidders once the asking price got too high. On the other hand, the Yankees didn’t cry poor the way so-called “small market” teams do, leaving their homegrown players to flounder without help.

Lesser GMs would not be able to pull off this balancing act: they would have paid the wrong guys, or not had the player development infrastructure in place to turn little-regarded prospects into household names. But Cashman has, to the point that fans have come to expect that he should have a salve for every last ill.

The reality is that nobody can build a perfect roster—given the circumstances in which he operates, Cashman has almost always built a roster that can compete for the ultimate prize. That ability cannot and should not be handwaved by recency bias, no matter how tempting it is. Frankly, nothing in the way he has built these teams suggests that they should be so routinely tossed aside by higher-seeded opponents. In each of the last two years, I sincerely believed that they matched up well against their ALDS opponents, warts and all—until first pitch, at which point it quickly became clear the team wasn’t prepared to win.

We can certainly quibble with individual moves Cashman has made. For instance, I feel like he’s never really gotten third base right since A-Rod retired, and his prospect-hugging tendency with former Top 100 guys like Clint Frazier and Jasson Domínguez has burned him plenty of times. But at the risk of being reductive, I feel the biggest issues facing this team are either Steinbrenner problems or Boone problems. Cashman doesn’t control the purse strings, and he doesn’t step between the foul lines. He’s kept doing his thing, giving Boone a perfectly good group of players to compete with while convincing Steinbrenner to pull the trigger on no small number of large contracts.

Two weeks ago I went to ALDS Game 3 and watched the Yankees’ season end with thousands of others who, probably like me, purchased their seat riding the high of smashing Boston in the Wild Card. They, like me, begrudgingly honored their commitment with the team facing near-certain doom and got what they expected to see: a game of close calls, near misses, and ultimately defeat. In talking with other fans on the long walk out of the stadium, a good number of them called for an all-or-nothing approach to 2027. Push all of the chips to the center, make a ton of moves to make the roster as competitive as possible, and then blow it up if it doesn’t work.

All-or-nothing approaches sound appealing when you haven’t had to consider the “nothing.” Yankee fans have not, in recent memory, experienced a true “nothing” season—because Cashman by and large hasn’t let them. The devil you know has given you some particularly sour postseason memories, it’s true. But they were postseason memories. The devil you don’t know could push them over the top… or it may just bring the whole operation crashing down.

Still, while I don’t agree with these fans’ overall outlook, the facts that led them to feel that way are unavoidable. If your team keeps choking in the big moments and the same guys stay in charge all the while, it signals complacency. It signals that the Yankees don’t really care all too much whether they win a championship: they’re just happy getting a place in the dance. Aaron Boone-managed squads perennially look overmatched and underprepared yet he stays aboard. Brian Cashman hasn’t built a champion in close to two decades, yet he stays aboard. There’s a palpable feeling in the air that the standard has been lowered. Even if nobody in the organization feels the same, it’s not really their place to say. Perception, at a certain point, becomes reality.

So as Brian Cashman prepares for another pivotal winter as general manager, he’ll be battling not just the attrition of his aging roster, a shrinking list of viable reinforcements, and the possibility of a lengthy work stoppage—but also a fanbase that is by and large losing its belief that this group can bring title number 28 back to the Bronx. That’s a hefty mandate, and as the past several years indicate, success is not a guarantee. But you likely won’t find a GM better equipped to handle what comes next. For better or worse, the Yankees are sticking to their guns.

As the Yankees look to retool their roster for the 2027 season, there's a massive hole they will need to fill.

Second base, manned by Jazz Chisholm Jr. for the last two seasons, will explore free agency and it's likely he will not return to the Bronx. While the team had a seamless transition to Chisholm -- who came up as a second baseman -- from Gleyber Torres when the infielder left in free agency following the 2024 season, the same can't be said for the Yankees' second base situation this offseason.

GM Brian Cashman may have to get creative to address the position, as financial restraints and a bloated roster filled with redundant pieces could make it difficult to get a proven second baseman on the team. 

But it's not impossible, as internal and external candidates pop up.

Here's a breakdown of the internal and external candidates to be the Yankees' 2027 second baseman. 

Anthony Volpe

This is the natural fit.

Volpe has already made the transition to second base from shortstop this season and was effective at the new position. While he did make two errors in 12 games (11 starts) at second base during the regular season, those hiccups are expected for someone who is asked to play multiple positions. But a full offseason practicing second will do Volpe well.

And then there's his bat. The demotion seemingly unlocked something in Volpe as he hit .265 in 14 September games -- after hitting .240 up to that point -- and that carried over into the postseason. 

In two postseason starts, Volpe was 3-for-7 with a near-season-saving home run against the Rays in the ALDS. 

Jose Caballero

Caballero is another internal option that could easily become the everyday second baseman if he wins it in spring training or if Volpe falters. The super utility man can play a number of positions, which makes him a better fit to come off the bench, but Caballero provided a spark when the Yankees needed it this past season, albeit at shortstop.

While Volpe was recovering from offseason shoulder surgery, Caballero hit a respectable .267 through April and was hitting .263 by the end of May, even when Volpe returned. However, Caballero began to struggle offensively, the risk of playing a historical utility bench player every day. Nonetheless, Caballero proved to be a valuable piece to the 2026 Yankees and could be the starting second baseman to start next season. 

Luis Garcia Jr.

This option would be a project.

Garcia was acquired at the 2026 deadline for his bat and to play first base. Garcia was better than advertised playing first base, but there's currently a logjam between first and DH. 

Ben Rice played first base for most of the season before Garcia arrived, but the youngster shifted to a primary DH to give the Yankees more offensive firepower with Aaron Judge on the shelf. 

With Judge and Giancarlo Stanton returning, presumably healthy in 2027, the Yankees need Rice to play first base to get his bat in the lineup. The best option is to put Garcia at second base, where he has the most major league experience. In seven MLB seasons, Garcia has 508 games (480 starts) at second base. 

Garcia did not play second all of 2026, and for good reason. Garcia was a negative in OAA in four of six seasons playing the position, including a -7 at second base in 2025. To Garcia's credit, he had a 5 OAA in 2024, so perhaps the Yankees can get him to play at that level this offseason. 

If they can, it would give them the perfect complement to the right-handed hitting Volpe and Caballero at the position. And Boone was open to the possibility of moving Garcia to second. 

CJ Abrams

When we talk about external candidates, Abrams would be the biggest swing Cashman could make to address second base.

Abrams is coming off a career year where he slashed .261/.336/.497 with an OPS of .833, to go along with 33 home runs and 106 RBI. While Abrams has played shortstop his whole career, the Nationals began transitioning him to second base at the end of 2026. He finished playing 14 games (12 starts) at the position and made every play hit to him.

While not a large sample size, Abrams showed he can be at least serviceable at second. That, with what Abrams offers offensively from the left side, is hard to pass up if he's available.

The Yankees reportedly checked in at the deadline for Abrams and they have the pieces to give the Nationals an intriguing package. Washington needs major league ready starters, which the Yankees have in abundance (Will Warren, Ryan Weathers, Clarke Schmidt). Jasson Dominguez, a former top prospect, could use a change of scenery, and the Nationals could also want flamethrower Carlos Lagrange. 

Cashman has a knack for making trades that no one sees coming (see: the Chisholm and Juan Soto deals), so it's not out of the realm of possibility if the Yankees can convince him to play second full time. 

Another downside would be Abrams' struggles against lefties. He batted .240 with eight home runs and 63 strikeouts in 192 ABs facing southpaws. While it's better than Chisholm's .218, five home runs and 56 strikeouts in 147 ABs from this past season, it still makes the Yankees' everyday lineup susceptible to left-handers.

Luis Arraez

Any external option should be a left-handed bat, and Arraez is set to be one of the biggest free agents this offseason.

Arraez took a one-year, $12 million deal to sign with the Giants last offseason and was worth every penny as he finished second in the batting title race in his fourth All-Star year. 

While Arraez's 2026 could lead to a multi-year deal, perhaps he'd take another one-year contract as he enters his age-30 season. 

Arraez provides the contact-first bat the Yankees need, and his defense has improved leaps and bounds. He had a 12 OAA in 2026 after being a -9 a season ago while playing second and first with the Padres. It's a risk banking on Arraez's defense to remain consistent, but his offense adds another dimension to the team.

The one problem is that the starting lineup would be too left-handed heavy, as it was in previous seasons. But Arraez's numbers against lefties was very good. He hit .314 with a .341 OBP while striking out just 14 times, the same amount he did against righties. 

If the money is right, Arraez could fit right in.

***

The Yankees roster regarding second base is tough to pin down. 

While you want to make a splash by adding Arraez or Abrams, the smarter move would be to use what's already on the roster. Abrams, while an upgrade from Chisholm, has the same pitfalls the team faced in previous seasons while trying to get the All-Star to acclimate to a new position. For his faults, Chisholm's athleticism allowed him to play outstanding defense at second when he was locked in.

Arraez, while a better hitter, could be too expensive depending on the market and there's no guarantee his defense would hold up. 

Letting Volpe win the job outright in spring and then easing Garcia in as a left-handed platoon feels like the best play for this team. It gives Boone flexibility while getting his best hitters in the lineup, especially if the DH spot is open with a potential Stanton departure.